Sunday, February 8, 2015

Italian diaspora All-time 23 member team

Italy saw a large-scale migration of its people away from Italy in the period Between the unification of Italy in 1861 and the rise of Italian Fascism
during the 1920s, as well as one last wave can be observed after the
end of World War II. Today, Italian diaspora is one of largest in the world. Some of the greatest footballers are overseas Italians. There are 20 World Cup Finals at the time of writing. Five of them were lifted by captains who are of Italian descent (1930, 1958, 1978, 1986 and 1994). Italy won four more (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006).This is my All-time 23 Italian Diaspora team. I have excluded all Oriundo players because those players have been capped by Italy and the Italian national team did not "lose" them.Please also look at my all-time Italy team here and myAll-Time Team Index.

GK: Peter Bonetti (England)Nicknamed
as "the Cat", Bonetti was a legend at Chelsea. His finest moment came
in the Final of the FA Cup in 1970 where his heroic play helped Chelsea
to win the FA Cup. He was the FWA Player of the Year runner-up that
year. However, he only earned 7 caps for England. his career was
limited by playing with Gordon Banks at the same time. He was Banks'
backup in the World Cup 1966.GK: Rogerio Ceni(Brazil)Roger
Ceni is known as the goalkeeper who scored a lot of goals. He is
recognized as the highest scorer in history for a keeper. He is a
long-term keeper for Sao Paulo. He went to two WC Finals as a backup.

GK Roque MaspoliMaspoli began playing in the youth ranks of Club Nacional de Football. He would make his Uruguayan Primera División debut with Liverpool de Montevideo in 1939. After one season with Liverpool, he joined C.A. Peñarol. He would spend the rest of his playing career with Peñarol, winning six Primera titles with the club.He was Uruguay's keeper at the World Cup in 1950, where they won it by breaking the hearts of the Brazilians.RB: Javier Zanetti (Argentina)He was the starting rightback for Inter Milan for almost 20 years. He served as their captain from 1999, earning him the nickname "Il Capitano" (The Captain). He held all kind of appearance records in Italy. He widely considered to be Argentina's best ever rightback. He
holds the record of the most capped player in the history of the
Argentine national team and played in the 1996 Olympic tournament, five
Copa América tournaments and two World Cups, in 1998 and 2002.

RB: Severino Minelli (Switzerland)He
was considered one of the best rightbacks in history. He was capped 80
times for Switzerland. He played in the 1934 and 1938 WC Finals.

RB/CB: Jose Nasazzi (Uruguay)He was the captain of Uruguay's legendary team that won the World Cup in 1930. He is regarded by many as Uruguay's greatest ever football player. He was known as "El Gran Mariscal"
(The Great Marshal) and had already won the gold medal at the 1924 and
1928 Olympic Games, as well as the South American Championship in 1923,
1924 and 1926, by the time of the first World Cup.CB: Daniel Passarella (Argentina)Daniel Passarella
was one of the best center-backs ever played the game. He captured
Argentina when it won the World Cup in 1978. He was also known for
scoring over 140 goals in his career, very high for a defender. His
career was associated with River Plate.

CB: Roberto Perfumo (Argentina) He was a legend with Racing Club in Argentina winning the Primera title, the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup. He played in 1966 and 1974 WC Finals.

CB: Oscar Ruggeri (Argentina)Oscar Ruggeri
played in 3 World Cup Finals, winning the one in 1986 and finishing
second in 1990. He was La Liga Foreign Player of the Year in 1989 and
South American Player of the Year in 1991. He played for both River
Plate and Boca Juniors as well as Real Madrid in Spain.

LB: Silvio Marzolini (Argentina)A
idol with Boca Juniors. He was considered one of the greatest
leftbacks in Latin American football history. He went to the 1966 WC
Finals in England.

LB: Alberto Tarantini (Argentina)He
was the starting leftback for Argentina in 1978 and 1982. He was
infamously known for his career in England where he only lasted 28
matches. He played for both River Plate and Boca Juniors.

DM: Nestor Rossi (Argentina)One
of Argentina's greatest defensive midfielders. He won 5 Argentinian
league titles with River Plate and 6 more with Millonarios in Colombia.
He played in the 1958 World Cup Finals.

DM: Dunga (Brazil)Dunga's
bluecollar and defensive style of football symbolized a new era in
Brazil's football. He played 91 times for Brazil. He was the captain
of Brazil's WC winning team in 1994. He also went to Italia 1990 and
France 1998. He played in Brazil, Japan, Italy and Germany in his
career.

CM: Esteban Cambiasso (Argentina)During his professional career, Cambiasso has won 23 official titles (as of the end of 2011), being the Argentine footballer with most honours in history, one more than Alfredo Di Stéfano.[2] The majority of his titles were won during his ten seasons at Internazionale, including five Scudetti and the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League. A full international since 2000, Cambiasso won 52 caps for Argentina, and represented the country at the 2006 World Cup, at the 2005 Confederations Cup, and at the Copa América in 2007 and 2011.

DM:Diego Simeone (Argentina)Simeone started his career with Velez Sarsfield before moving to Europe. He first joined Pisa and Sevilla before going to Atletico Madrid. He won the Double with them in 1995-1996. He then moved to Inter Milan, where he won the UEFA Cup in 1998. In 1999, he moved to Lazio. Again, he won the Double. He returned to Atletico Madrid in 2003 and played for Racing Club before his retirement. For Argentina, he was capped 106 times. He won Copa America in 1991 and 1993. He went to play in three WC Finals; 1994, 1998 and 2002. In 1998, he had the famous incident with David Beckham.

The
best player in the world before the emerge of Pele and Maradona. He won
5 straight European Cups with Real Madrid. He was credited in turning
Real Madrid into a legendary club. He was one of the younger member of
the great River Plate in the 1940's.

AM: Enzo Scifo (Belgium) Born in Belgium of Italian background. he made his name with Anderlecht. He also played in both France and Italy. He
appeared for Belgium in the World Cups of 1986, 1990, 1994, and 1998,
playing sixteen games. He was a star at the WC Finals in 1986 and 1990,
where he scored one of the best goals of the tournament in 1990.

LW/M: Rivelino (Brazil)He
is considered to be one of the greatest left-sided midfielder ever. He
won a WC in 1970 and played in the 1974 team. He had 92 caps for
Brazil. He was known for his master of the "flip flap" move.

RW/FW: Lionel Messi(Argentina)At time of writing, he won 4 World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or. Despite his Tax evasion case and feud with his charities, he is considered a clean-cut player.

AM: Michel Platini (France)Michel Platini is one of the greatest footballers of all time. He scored 9 of France's 14 goals as they won Euro 1984 at home. It
was probably the greatest individual performance in a tournament. He
won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1983, 1984 and 1985. With Juventus,
he won the European Cup in 1985, the first ever for the club.

AM: Enzo Francescoli (Uruguay)Known as "the Prince", he was Uruguay's most capped outfield player. He was a big fan favorite in River Plate where he won
Copa Libertadores in 1996. He also played in France and Italy. With
Uruguay, he won three Copa America's in 1983, 1987 and 1995, where he
was voted the best player in two of the tournaments. He was also South
America Player of the Year in 1984 and 1995.

He
was considered the second best player in history after Pele. He won
the World Cup in 1986, scoring the best goal in the history of the World
Cup when he scored against England. For club football, he was best
remembered for leading Napoli to break the dominance of the Northern
Italian clubs in the Serie A.

ST: Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina)He is the current top-scorer for Argentina. He first gained international recognition when Argentina won the Copa America in 1991 where he finished as the top scorer. He
earned a move to Fiorentina spending the next 9 seasons there while
becoming their all-time leading scorer. In 2000, he moved to Roma and
won the scudetto in his first season. He went to the WC Finals in 1994,
1998 and 2002.

Squad ExplanationI have excluded all Oriundo players because those players have been
capped by Italy and the Italian national team did not "lose" them. Omar Sivori, Luis Monti, etc did not make the squad.Formation